Porgy and Bess preview from San Francisco Opera video

George Gershwin miraculously melded classical music, popular song, jazz, blues and spirituals in this quintessentially American masterpiece that tells the poignant story of a crippled beggar, the headstrong woman he loves, and the community that sustains them both. General Director David Gockley, whose association with Porgy and Bess has restored it to a mainstay of the operatic repertoire, presents director Francesca Zambello's critically acclaimed production. Alan Rich of LA Weekly calls her staging "by some distance, the finest and most enjoyable of the couple of dozen productions I have attended of Porgy and Bess." "Opening Porgy and Bess in 1935 was an exceptionally brave move for George Gershwin. He insisted on casting African American artists in all the roles despite the prevailing segregationist and racist views of the era. The complex issues of race and class were brought to the very center of Broadway, the great white way, with extraordinary, unforgettable music and an explosive love story set against the backdrop of Charlestons Catfish Row." --Stanley E. Williams, Co-founder and Artistic Director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre